What is a face? So let’s make us stupid – just like the teacher Bömmel in the Feuerzangenbowle, and forget everything that is said and discussed in terms of corona and masks in terms of facts and science. The virologists, politicians and other experts should analyze this in studies and number games and design their rules accordingly. We’re just enjoying the summer and the fact that the rule when shopping, for example, is: Mask optional.
And we’re always adventurous and just leave that thing out and we’re happy to meet like-minded people who (may) also dare to experiment, such as the waitresses at some bakeries or in one or the other supermarket. What conjures up the unusual experience of being presented with faces again for friendly words. And the unexpected experience that something reflexively triggers in your own face when someone speaks to you without a mask. It is a pull-up of the corners of the mouth, usually combined with a friendly look into the other person’s eyes, something that in all the fleeting everyday encounters has been swallowed up by the earth for almost two years or hidden behind face coverings reminiscent of illness and hospital. It’s called a smile.
You had totally forgotten how many opportunities there are to smile every day. When the cashier in the supermarket wishes you “have a nice weekend” and you say “thank you, too” – whoops, the corners of your mouth have turned up, you can feel this almost forgotten muscle movement in your cheeks, which at the same time releases endorphins. You can feel something developing between the cashier and yourself, a little sunny energy that both can take with them into the rest of the day and into further encounters.
There’s a lot of smiling, even laughing, behind the counter at the bakery, where you can suddenly see not only hair, hair color and eyes, but also cheeks and lips, which are all so different. One almost forgets one’s own order because of the sheer amazement and enjoyment of this sight, and a “Three Euro ten, please” from the saleswoman’s mouth pulls the corners of her mouth up again with “Thank you, goodbye”. These experiences have made you courageous, so that at the appointment with a new doctor, you asked the man, all in white, including half his face, to take off his mask for just a short moment, just for a little mutual smile. He participated and briefly showed his full lips and straight teeth. And then said: “Good idea.”